New Years Tales, Traditions and Superstitions...

so do you have any New Year Traditions?? How about Superstitions? 

They (they being old wives tales) say that if a man is the first person to enter your house in the New Year, you will have good luck, but if a woman is the first one in, you will have bad luck. 

Also another tale is how your old year ends determines how your new year will begin, so they say to wear your best, make sure your debts are paid and to be with your beloved as the old year goes out, so that you will have all of these things in the New Year.

Some people always make sure to eat Hog Jowl and Black Eyed peas on New Years Day, for prosperity, also many eat cabbage on New Years Day too. 

Some people avoid eating  backward moving seafood such as lobster or crawfish on New Years Day, because New Years is a time for moving forward. 

Of course there is the tradition of watching the ball drop in Times Square.  The first original ball was made of iron and wood, todays current ball is made of Waterford Crystal and weighs over a thousand pounds.

Here is a neat tradition, in Greece a coin or coins are placed in a cake while it is being mixed up and whoever gets a peice of cake with a coin will have good luck in the New Year.

One more old wives tales... Dont wash clothes on New Years Day because the person whose clothes you washed would die before the year was out.

I love stuff like this...my friend RoseMary  posts wives tales also... Please add any you have heard of...